


Help

by bansheequeen (queenbanshee), xtremeroswellian



Series: The High School Series [17]
Category: Smallville
Genre: F/M, Friendship, Gen, Late Night Phone Calls, Love, Protective Lex Luthor, Protective Oliver Queen, Texting, Trust Issues
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-03
Updated: 2020-05-03
Packaged: 2021-03-02 04:08:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,354
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23988619
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/queenbanshee/pseuds/bansheequeen, https://archiveofourown.org/users/xtremeroswellian/pseuds/xtremeroswellian
Summary: Chloe and Oliver makes plans to go to Metropolis with Lois, and Lutessa seeks out help.
Relationships: Oliver Queen & Lex Luthor, Oliver Queen & Lutessa Luthor, Oliver Queen/Chloe Sullivan
Series: The High School Series [17]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1728691
Kudos: 2





	1. Chapter 1

It was nearly eleven that night when Oliver sent Chloe a text. _You awake?_

Chloe jumped when her phone buzzed on her desk. She had finally finished all of her homework and was just putting everything back into her backpack. Her heart skipped a beat when she saw his text and she took a deep breath. _Yeah_ , she answered.

He smiled and quickly texted back. _Everything okay there?_

 _Could be better... ;)_. Even as she answered, she held her breath and reached to open the window. She knew he wasn’t outside, but she really wished he would be.

At that his smile slipped. He sighed softly, rubbing a hand over his face. _I wish I could come over,_ he admitted.

She did too. A lot. With a sigh, she shook her head and moved to sit on the bed. _Is your phone on silent?_

 _Yeah, why?_ he texted, cocking his head to the side.

Her heart skipped a beat and she took a deep breath before calling him. What she wanted to talk to him about shouldn’t be on text, or anything that people could find.

Oliver answered his phone immediately, pressing it to his ear. “Hey, Beautiful,” he said with a soft smile.

“Hey,” she said quietly, smiling too the second she heard his voice.

He sat down on the edge of his bed. “How’s your night going?” 

“Just finished homework and was getting ready for bed. You?” she asked, reaching to turn the bedside lamp off, but leaving the window open.

“Just bored. Tried to find you-know-who but didn’t have any luck.” He sat back against the headboard.

“I think it’s about time Lex let you borrow his car for the night,” she whispered, closing her eyes. 

“Not sure I could escape even if I had a car.” He chewed the inside of his cheek. “Lionel just installed a new alarm system.” 

Chloe groaned and rolled her eyes. “There goes my plan to break in.”

“Give me a couple days. I’ll figure out the security code and how to get around it.” 

“Okay,” she said quietly, smiling. “Then we just need to slip my dad some sleeping pills,” she teased.

“I’m sure Lionel has some of those floating around here, too,” he joked.

“Oh, definitely,” she teased, but sighed softly as she looked down. Talking to him before bed usually made her miss him even more.

“I miss you, too,” he said a second later, voice growing quiet.

Her chest tightened and she took a deep breath, nodding. “I called for a reason.”

“Oh. What’s up?” he asked.

“It’s nothing bad, and nothing huge,” she assured him, hoping he’d know she meant it wasn’t about Lionel and Lutessa.

Oliver relaxed at that, laying down on his bed. “I’m listening.” 

“I was talking to Lo and, we’re gonna skip class on Monday and go to Metropolis,” she said, holding her breath.

He frowned. “Okay...” 

Chloe sighed deeply, closing her eyes as she tried to pretend it wasn’t him she was talking to but rather the wall, or some inanimate object. “Before we... do stuff. I wanna go see a doctor. And if I go to one here in Smallville or in Grandville, people would see and probably tell my dad.”

He paused. “A doctor,” he echoed, then his eyes widened. “Oh. _Oh._ ” 

“Yeah, just in case and so I can get medication,” she said, being as vague as possible.

“Right.” He sat up on the bed once more.

Chloe remained silent for a moment, not sure what else to say. “I figured I should tell you,” she added awkwardly. 

“Yeah, definitely. It’s good to know. I mean, it’s always best to be as careful as possible.” He raked a hand through his hair.

“Yeah,” she agreed, taking a deep breath. “I’ll just tell dad we’re gonna go pick some more of Lois’ things up so he doesn’t freak out if the school calls,” she added quietly.

Oliver was quiet for a moment. “Do you uh--do you need help paying for it?” 

Her eyes widened at the offer and she shook her head. “No. I don’t think so,” she said, holding her breath. She hoped not, because she didn’t want to ask him for money.

“Okay. If it turns out you do, it’s not a big deal,” Oliver said sincerely.

“Thanks, Ollie,” she said just as sincerely, her chest tight.

“You’re welcome.” He chewed the inside of his cheek again.

“Do you wanna come?” She asked before she could stop herself. “To Metropolis, I mean, not to the thing. You can just wait somewhere while Lois and I go.” 

“Oh.” He held his breath. “I wouldn’t mind. I mean, unless you two wanted to have a girl’s day or something.” 

“I’ll ask her, but I think she’ll wanna stop by MetU and see some of her friends,” she said. 

“Okay. Let me know. If she’s gonna do that, I’d love to spend the day with you away from here.” 

Chloe held her breath at the way he worded it, it sounded so much better than just ‘hanging out at Metropolis’. “I’d like that, too.”

“Cool.” He smiled even though he felt nervous. 

Chewing on her bottom lip, she remained quiet for a moment. He hadn’t freaked out at the whole birth control thing, so she figured maybe now that she was being honest, she should see how it felt to keep going. “Do you think this is normal?” she asked in a quiet voice.

“What do you mean?” he asked uncertainly.

“Being like we are...” she said, taking a deep breath. “I see you every day, but I still miss you.”

He relaxed. “Yeah. I think it is. I mean, I think that’s just part of being in love.” His voice was quiet.

Chloe couldn’t help but smile at that. “My only references for that are Clark and Lana, and I don’t even know if that’s love of borderline obsessive behaviour.”

He grimaced. “Chloe, no offense to Clark and Lana, but I don’t think we’re on the same level.” 

“I hope not,” she said, grinning softly. “I would feel pretty grossed out if we were.”

“Me too.” He smirked.

“Glad we agree on that,” she teased. 

“We agree on a lot,” Oliver responded.

“Except on coffee versus tea,” she said quietly, smiling as she pulled her knees up to her chest.

“In which case I’m obviously right,” he teased.

“Obviously not,” she teased back. “But I’ll teach you eventually.”

“Hah. Bring it on, Sullivan.” He grinned.

“You’ll see, just wait,” she said, grinning too. She could hear the grin in his voice, so it was easy to picture the look on his face, and she liked it when he looked happy.

“I can hardly contain myself.” His grin widened.

“I know, but you’ll have to,” she said, grinning too. “Hey, Ollie?”

“Yeah?” 

She hesitated. “If you could be anywhere right now, where would you be?”

He blinked, caught off guard by the question. “Uhhh. Is this a trick question?” he joked.

Chloe paused and arched her eyebrows. “Depends on your answer.” 

“It just came from out of the blue,” he explained.

“I was just wondering,” she said sincerely. “You’ve been to a lot of places.”

“Yeah, I guess I have,” he agreed, thinking for a long moment. “I don’t know, really. I’ve liked a lot of the places I’ve been, but...if I could be anywhere right now? I’d be in your room.” 

Her face got warm and she couldn’t help but smile at that. “Okay, it wasn’t a test, you can be honest now,” she teased. 

“I was being honest,” Oliver said sincerely.

“So when you’re free from Lionel, does that mean I can hide you under my bed?” she asked, holding her breath. 

He grinned involuntarily. “I’m not sure I’ll fit under your bed, Chloe. But _in_ it...” 

“Well you can stay _in_ it, but I might need to hide you sometimes,” she teased, grinning brightly too as she relaxed. 

“I can always climb out the window if your dad’s coming,” he said. “I’m pretty good at climbing.” 

“I like this plan,” she told him, chewing on the inside of her mouth. “As long as you don’t break anything.”

“Like a tree branch?” he teased.

“Like an arm, or a leg, I think you know that isn’t fun for either of us from my experience,” she said with a smirk.

“Touche,” he said, suddenly serious once more. 

Chloe paused at the change in his voice, unsure what to make of it. “I guess we should go to bed?”

“I guess,” he said, sounding reluctant.

“Are you okay?” she asked quietly, frowning.

“Yeah, I’m okay. Are you?” He frowned, too.

“I am, you just got serious all of the sudden,” she explained, walking up to her window and closing it.

He was quiet for a moment. “I just don’t like the idea of you being hurt,” he said quietly.

Her expression softened and she shook her head. “I don’t like the idea of you being hurt, either. But I’m fine now and I think we’re both safe for the time being. If something was going on, Lex would know, so don’t worry about it.”

“I’m not,” he said, only half truthfully.

Chloe took a deep breath. “Just think about everything you wanna do while we’re in Metropolis, okay?” she suggested. “Don’t think about this.”

“Well, there are a lot of things I’d like to do while we’re in Metropolis,” he teased.

She relaxed and headed back to her bed, then sat down against the pillows. “Like?”

“Kidnapping you.” 

Her face brightened and she arched her eyebrows. “And where would you take me?”

“Where do you want to go?” 

Her stomach tightened and she considered her answer for a moment. “Somewhere just the two of us.”

“That sounds good to me,” he told her.

“You should start planning my kidnapping, then,” she said, smiling even though her heart was beating fast.

“I will,” Oliver said with a grin.

“Good,” she told him, grinning too. “Let me know of your plans tomorrow?”

“We’ll see. Maybe I’d rather surprise you.” He smirked.

“I can’t wait until Monday!” she protested. 

“The longer you anticipate something, the better it is.” 

“Or it doesn’t live up to your expectations and you’re completely disappointed,” she said, even though she knew she could never be disappointed in spending time alone with him, no matter what they were doing.

“Ouch,” he said, pouting even though she couldn’t see him. 

“Now you know it has to be good,” she said smugly. “Besides, I might have a surprise for you, too.”

“I think you’re just trying to get me to tell you my plans,” he said, shaking his head.

“Well, you won’t know for sure now, will you?” she asked, grinning.

“I guess we’ll both be tortured til Monday.” 

“I guess we are,” she agreed, smirking. Now she just had to think of _what_ her surprise to him would be.

His lips curled upwards once more. “All right. Bring it on, Sullivan.” 

“Ditto, Queen,” she said, sitting up. “You have three days.”

“You, too.” He grinned even more. 

Chloe smiled then slid under her covers and got into bed. “Now it will be impossible to sleep,” she said quietly.

“Well, look at it this way. When you close your eyes, maybe you’ll dream about us,” he said, leaning his head back against his headboard.

“I guess that’s a good way to think about it. Besides, tomorrow will be a day closer to Monday,” she added, grinning softly.

“Exactly,” he agreed.

“Okay,” she said, taking a deep breath. “I’ll see you tomorrow, then.”

“See you tomorrow.” Oliver paused. “Love you. Sweet dreams.” 

She smiled brightly and closed her eyes. “Love you too. Night, Ollie.”

He reluctantly pressed the ‘end’ button on his phone and set it on the mattress beside him. Since Lionel had stolen it from him and put a bug on it, he hadn’t let it out of his sight.


	2. Chapter 2

It was sometime after Midnight when Oliver finally managed to make it to sleep. He awoke to a soft, barely audible shuffling sound a couple hours later, and he pried one eye open, then rubbed his eyes with his hand, stilling in the bed when he realized a figure was standing over him. He sat up quickly, reaching out to turn on the lamp, alarmed.

“Shh,” the redhead said, lifting a finger to her lips but not moving from where she stood next to his bed.

He grew still once more as he realized who the figure was. “What are you doing?” he whispered.

Lutessa shrugged but kept her gaze firmly on him. “He’s not here.”

“Lionel,” he said, rubbing his face again and reaching out, flipping the lamp on.

“You haven’t told him,” she went on, stepping away from the light. “But you told Alexander.” 

“Lex hates his father,” Oliver explained, watching her through bleary eyes.

“He’s Lionel’s favorite,” Lutessa added, eyes narrowing. “The only son he wanted.”

He pursed his lips, pushing the covers back and climbing out of bed. “I’m not entirely sure that’s true,” he told her.

“He’s going to send me away again,” she said, taking a step away when he stood up.

Oliver held his hands up to show he meant her no harm. “Not if we have anything to say about it,” he said.

“What are _you_ going to do? You can’t even leave here without him knowing,” she dared.

He cocked his head to the side. “Obviously you think I can do _something_ or you wouldn’t have sought me out,” he pointed out.

“And what _can_ you do?” she asked. 

“I can take you to a safe place. One where Lionel won’t bother you, but you won’t be forced to hide in the walls of a house.” He gazed at her.

“You’re stuck here just as much as I am,” she said, her jaw clenching as her eyes narrowed. “Don’t lie!”

“I may be stuck here, but Lex isn’t. And neither is my girlfriend. You know, the one you knocked unconscious.” He gave her a look. 

Lutessa full on glared at him. “She’s the one who kept telling you I was a ghost.”

He almost smiled at her expression. Considering she was nearly a foot shorter than he was, she wasn’t very intimidating. “She’s also the one who made the safe house suggestion.” 

“I don’t want to go anywhere,” she said stubbornly. “I just want to stay here.”

“The place isn’t far,” he told her. “A couple miles. But you’d be away from Lionel and safe.” 

“But I’ll be alone. Again,” she said, her expression tense.

“No.” He shook his head. “The house belongs to Martha Kent. She and her son Clark, who’s a year younger than me, both live there. You could go to school. Have a normal life.” 

“I know who Clark is,” she said, shaking her head. “I don’t wanna go to school and Lionel will find out.”

“You know who Clark is?” He frowned. 

“I know who everyone is,” she told him, smirking. “You, Alexander, Chloe, Clark, Lois and Lana.” 

Oliver arched an eyebrow. “You realize that’s disturbing, right?” 

Lutessa frowned defensively. “What?”

“You knowing all about us when we just found out that you exist,” he explained, studying her. “How old are you, anyway?” 

“They told me thirteen, but I don’t know,” she said, crossing her arms over her chest.

Sadness welled up in his chest in an unexpected wave. She didn’t even know for sure how old she was. Lionel was a cold-hearted bastard. “You look like you’re probably thirteen or fourteen,” he told her with a faint smile. He hesitated a second, then waved his hand at his desk chair. “You want to sit down?” 

She shook her head and took a step back. “Are you going to tell Alexander you saw me?”

He hesitated, holding his hands up again. “Lex is on our side,” he told her quietly. “He’s really angry with Lionel, and I know he wants to know you. I mean, you’re his only family. He won’t hurt you.” 

“He won’t stop looking for me,” she said, looking down.

“No,” he agreed softly, taking a hesitant step toward her. “You’re his sister. That means something to him.” 

“He won’t tell Lionel?” she asked, tensing at the name.

“No, he won’t,” Oliver assured her.

“I’ll find him,” Lutessa said, staring at Oliver even as she took a step back.

“Okay.” He gazed at her. “Is there anything I can do?” he asked uncertainly. “I mean, do you need anything?” 

“Keep your promise,” she told him, almost hopeful.

Oliver nodded solemnly, keeping his eyes on her. “We’ll keep you safe,” he whispered.

Lutessa watched him for a moment longer then silently made her way over to the door of his room and disappeared.

* * * 

Lex looked up from the newspaper he was reading when he saw Oliver walking into the dining room. “Thought I was going to leave you here today, we need to leave soon if you don’t want Dad extending your punishment again for being late,” he said, then sipped on his orange juice.

He grunted in response, picking up a glass and pouring himself some orange juice, too. “I’ll skip breakfast.” 

With a shrug, Lex stood up and nodded. “Okay, let’s go, then.”

He yawned, rubbing a hand over his face as he followed Lex out of the dining room.

“Stayed on the phone with Chloe until late again?” Lex asked with a roll of his eyes. 

“Only til Midnight,” he answered. 

“Did she tell you about Metropolis?” he asked once they were outside.

Oliver blinked a couple of times, glancing over at him as they walked toward the car. “Yeah,” he said, arching his eyebrows. “I’m guessing you heard from Lois?” 

“Yeah, she didn’t want to be third wheel, she figured Chloe was going to invite you, so she invited me,” Lex said, shrugging. 

He was quiet as he climbed into the passenger seat of the car, considering his words. “You two are getting pretty chummy.” 

Lex’s eyes narrowed, but he adjusted on his seat and gripped the wheel a little tighter. “We don’t have much of a choice between you and Chloe and Clark and Lana.”

Oliver winced. “I didn’t mean anything by it. Just seems like you two are getting along pretty well.” 

He shrugged nonchalantly. “We have some stuff in common.”

He nodded, falling silent and then looking out the window. “Did Tess find you last night?” 

Lex pressed his foot down on the brakes and looked over at him. “What?”

Oliver sighed. He’d suspected as much. “She wandered into my room this morning. Really early. I told her she needed to talk to you and she said she was going to go find you.” 

“What did she tell you? Why did she come find _you_?” he asked.

“I have no idea.” He glanced at Lex sideways. “Mostly it was me talking and her letting me know how much she knew about all of us.” 

“How much does she know?” he asked, starting the car again.

“She didn’t go into much detail, but she knows who all of us are.” 

“Did you tell her we’re going to help her?” Lex asked. 

“Yeah. And I think she wanted to believe me, but I’m not sure she does yet.” 

“I’ll talk to her,” Lex said firmly. “And to Mrs. Kent.”

“I mentioned Mrs. Kent. She was pretty unsure about all of it.” He glanced at Lex again.

“She doesn’t know any better,” Lex told him.

“I know,” Oliver assured him.

“I will talk to her,” he told Oliver, straightening. “Lionel will never see her again.”

He wasn’t convinced that could or would happen, but he didn’t say so. He simply nodded, looking out the windshield. “We need to earn her trust.” 

“I will,” Lex said. “She’s my sister.”

Oliver chewed the inside of his cheek, falling silent.

Lex glanced over at him then sat up straighter as he picked up speed toward Smallville High. He was going to protect her no matter what.


End file.
